Early ceremony- all day wedding

I wanted to get married at 2pm and my OH wanted 11am so we're getting married at 12 which I still thought was to early but the more I think about it the more I like the idea of having a whole day. I don't think you need to worry to much about gaps, people will just chat and drink. I like the idea of a boat trip though. If budget allows maybe hire in entertainment like magic, photo booth or something similar

We've got lots of vintage cameras, a back drop and prop box to keep people busy. I'm also thinking of doing a table of board games and packs of decorate your own gingerbread men for the kids but we've got a village hall so it goes.

Our time line is this

12-12:30 wedding

12:30-2 photos

2-3 cocktaill hour

3-6 hog roast and picnic buffet

7pm cake cutting, first dance and disco

8pm snacks and sweet buffet

Hope this helps a little

I agree with the above, I also chose to have an early wedding, at 12.30. I wanted 12 but decided to go for 12.30 otherwise getting ready in the morning with hair and markup would have been very rushed (will still be a little I think!) I wanted my wedding day to be a full as I could get away with, when so many brides say how quicly it goes, why would you want to restrict that further? I think this can work especialy well with a small ish wedding as everyone knows each other and conversation will just flow as if it was a family meet up anyway. That is what I am hoping mine will be like. My times are:

12.30 Ceremony

1 - drinks canapes and garden games

2.30 Photos

3.15 sit down for wedding breakfast

3.30 dinner

5 - speeches

6 down time

7pm gameshow/quiz which is bring devised by me and hosted by my DJ host

8pm first dance and party

Everyone says that everything takes a little longer then you think so allow plenty of time for each part of the day. If I were you I would also schedule in a boat ride to take advantage of that being so close. If the boat is big enough then you could do a group wedding booking and maybe get a discount.

Good luck

We're getting married at 12. I wanted 1pm but our Registrar only did even hours!

Ours will go something like this:

12pm - Ceremony

12.30pm - Photos

1.30pm - Go inside for Wedding Breakfast

2pm - First course served (it's a choice menu, so we're allowing for people to choose their meal and for it to be prepared

4pm - Speeches

5pm - 7pm - Mingling! This 'dead' time will hopefully allow us to speak to some of our guests properly and say thank you for coming before the Evening rabble arrive ?

We're having a Magician as daytime entertainment and a Photobooth for the evening. I'm hoping people won't get bored! It'll mostly be family and friends during the day, so lots of people will know each other which will hopefully encourage them to chat and entertain themselves!

There are many activities that could be carried out during the day, however as I've no idea of your personality and likes/dislikes I don't know whether any of the following will be your cup of tea? Some might be appropriate and some totally inappropriate.

Create a quiz with some wacky questions about you and your H2B and have tables competing against each other

Mr & Mrs game with someone asking questions to see how well you know each other. It's sometimes known as the Shoe game.

A Receiving line into the wedding breakfast. This is a very marmite type activity. Many brides hate it and that's usually because when they've seen it it's been carried out in a boring way. However when it's organised by somebody that knows what they're doing it can be a lot of fun. One bride who's wedding I did last year told me it was the favourite part of her whole day as it took the pressure off once it was finished and she and her husband didn't feel that they HAD to go around to everyone during the wedding breakfast.

Some fun introductions into the wedding breakfast for your wedding party - This gives your bridesmaids, ushers, best man etc some recognition and also let's all your guests know who they are.

It might be a good idea to hire a good Master of Ceremonies to help you with some activities to keep your guests entertained.

If you like I can send you a list that I send to the couples I work with called "50 creative ideas for your wedding". If you would like this just contact me via one of the methods in my signature below.

I went to a wedding last summer that started at 12 or 12:30. The ceremony was very short, and then we had canapes and welcome drinks while the wedding party took photos. I'd say this lasted maybe 1.5 hours. We then had the wedding breakfast with speeches, followed by the confetti photo. There was a gap between the wedding breakfast and the evening party which started around 7. They closed off the reception room so that the staff could get it ready for the evening portion, but they set out coffee, tea, fudge for everyone to nibble on. Most guests spent time out on the garden chatting, or went back to their rooms to freshen up since many had stayed at the hotel. For guests that booked a room to stay the night this was also a perfect opportunity for them to check in.

Where I'm from the majority of people are Catholic and the church only performs marriages in the morning or early afternoon. Because our weddings are structured differently (no evening guests) and usually start later in the day the "Catholic Gap" is very common. We usually have the ceremony, followed by a gap of a few hours where people can go back home or hang out in their room at the hotel, and then the cocktail hour/welcome drinks and meal start later in the day followed by the dancing. Couples usually use this time to go to a few other locations for pictures. For example, my cousin had his reception at a beautiful hotel in the city, but they went to a scenic park nearby to get photos with the autumn leaves and city skyline. So if you wanted extra time to take photos this is alternative to having the gap after the wedding breakfast.

The one thing I would be mindful of though is making sure guests aren't hungry. At the first wedding I mentioned above I wasn't really paying attention to the timeline since it was the first British wedding I had been to and I didn't know what to expect. I was also meeting my fiance's family for the first time so was too nervous to be hungry. But when I talked to my fiance's cousin after the fact, she said that everyone was starving by the time the meal was served. Because the ceremony fell during lunch time and they had to travel there they weren't really able to have breakfast or lunch, and I guess the canapes didn't really help that much with how hungry they were. They said their entire table was very irritated by the time the food was served.

I'd suggest:

11:30 - ceremony

12:00 - photos

13:00 - wedding breakfast

15:30 - boat cruise

16:30 - games/drinks/nibbles or you could hire in a band or other entertainment (e.g. wine tasting, cocktail making, magician, band, caricaturist) You could also use this opportunity to have more photos done off-site.

18:30/19:00 - dinner/evening reception

Alternatively, you could let your guests fill their own gap and suggest things to do in the area e.g. art exhibit, bars, if there is a movie on or tour going, etc.

Guys this is so helpful thank you very much. I am so pleased that the response has been positive, and that the consensus is that this is doable, as I am planning on booking today.

I will give the advice time to digest but on first read all of your suggestions seem workable for our wedding.

I have literally only just seen all of the responses (all of the email notifications came through at the same time) so apologies for the delay in my reply- I am a rookie!

Thanks again

This list would be really helpful Anthony- thanks

I've sent it you via message. If anyone else would like a copy just get in touch.

Could I please have a copy of the list Anthony?

Just sent it DB2016

For those wondering why I don't just post them on this thread I'd rather not have lots of DJs taking all of these ideas! So that is the reason I've asked you to contact me directly.

On the bright side those "gaps" are a photographer's dream, particularly in such a beautiful location.

Very often things stretch for longer than planned so perhaps this will allow you to really enjoy your day without feeling rushed.

All the best!